Preview

The Jaguar by Ted Hughes Commentary

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
935 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Jaguar by Ted Hughes Commentary
The poem ‘‘The Jaguar’’ is written by the former British Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes. It is written in the third person perspective, describing the animal’s attitudes in the zoo. The speaker of the poem is unknown, but one could assume that Ted Hughes is the speaker himself. The poem describes the lifestyle of animals at the zoo and their different attitudes towards their entrapment in their cage, and tributes the majesty of the Jaguar. It compares the bored and lazy moods of animals, to the energetic, lively and adventurous mood of the Jaguar, which does not see his entrapped life, as anything which could stop him from behaving as if it were in his natural environment. This creates a rather reflective mood, and shows that the speaker feels the animals should not be kept in captivity.

‘‘The Jaguar’’ is a free verse poem, which is structured on five stanzas with four lines. The basic rhyme pattern that it follows is A-B-B-A except for the last stanza which fallows C-D-C-D. This makes the poem sound more pleasant and rhythmic, because rhymes make a poem easier to read, and create a certain rhythm in it. Another factor that makes the poem rhythmic is the effective use of enjambment that the author has made to accelerate the speed of the poem in certain places for example, between the first and second stanza, where the technique is used to match the rhythm and tension of the poem, making it sound as if the Jaguar is running.

The poem’s clever use of techniques such as similes and metaphors clearly puts an image in the reader’s mind of the actions of animals and their ways of life. The quote ‘‘the parrots shriek as if they are on fire’’ gives us an accurate suggestion of what we would normally see at a day in the zoo, suggesting that the parrots are very loud, and may be annoyed by each other. The poet uses the quote ‘‘fatigued with indolence, tiger and lion lie still as the sun’’ to describe how bored and static the tiger and lion are, and compares them to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Throughout the poem, animal imagery is used to show the atmosphere and the mood. For example “Where shadows prowled the alleys.” The word prowled makes us think of a predatory animal and shows the atmosphere to be quite sinister and dark.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The purpose of the poem was to express my interests of nature and how I felt and what I experienced when I was in the woods at that time. There's also that life and death aspect in this poem, in which the bird has the lizard in his mouth and also by the word "fire".…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Nesting Time”, a poem by Douglas Stewart combines an anecdote of his and his daughters experience in nature, with description of the appearance and behavior of the honey-eater, and his typical philosophical reflection in the relationship of nature and man. The poem is thus personal, objective and universal in its several dimensions. This is a charming poem that appears to comment on Stewart’s personal experience. He is pleasantly surprised by the behavior and appearance of this remarkable bird, which makes him forget the ‘hard world’, focus on its tiny beauty and cause him to reflect on humankind and nature. The opening is impassioned in its generalizing quality: ‘Oh never in this hard world’. It is apparent from this judgment that Stewart, in regarding our human life as a difficult and unconsoling affair, finds profound solace in nature and her creatures. The reader notices the contrast between his heartfelt “Oh” and absolute indictment of ‘never’, and the cluster of adjectives, with internal rhyme, which introduces the bird: ‘absurd/Charming utterly disarming little bird’. His love for it grows from an initial acknowledgment of its silliness and, then, praise of its captivating behavior to, finally, and adoring diminutive in ‘little’. It is Stewart’s descriptive language that brings the scene to visual life. The bird’s actions and purpose are highly visual through the often…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Judith Beveridge Speech

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One of Beveridge’s strongest values is of life, in ‘the domesticity of giraffes’ this is displayed from the first sentence of the second stanza. ‘I think of her graceful on her plain’ Beveridge puts herself into the poem, her thoughts of the giraffe in her natural state, gracefully running in the wild. The entire second stanza is crammed with imagery; each line creates a new picture in the mind of the giraffe being free. A strong metaphor end the stanza ‘She could be a big slim bird before flight’ this metaphor symbolising that could be the giraffe’s freedom. This is Beveridge’s only positive stanza throughout this poem this is very effective to display her thoughts on what the giraffes life should look be like. Continuing into the poem, violence and pain in the giraffe is described strongly using several similes. ‘ Her tongue like a black leather strap’,’ bruised apple eyed’ words of strong violence and pain as though the giraffe appears beaten up and battered, this use of violent imagery is disturbing and makes you think deeper about how the giraffes natural appearance seems to have disappeared. Beveridge observes the giraffe licking the wire for salt and gazing around her pen, her gaze has the loneliness of smoke’. Beveridge describes the giraffes unnatural habits, she becomes a part of the poem again by ‘ offering the giraffe the salt of her hand’ ‘ the giraffe in sensual agony’, this point of desperation for the giraffe is extremely unnatural and saddening to see her have to go to…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Controversy About Zoos

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages

    There are many controversies when it comes to the topic of the Zoo. The question to ask is if zoos are good or bad for the animals? And reading on in this essay with the main point you will be able to decide for your own will. Discuses in the rest of this essay will be the living conditions of animals, if they’re able to have families, how they are treated, and if they are able to reproduce. These animals suffered with poor health because they had a natural food diet that they’re weren’t used to. According to S. Mary P. Benbow, “Unsuitable feeding practices of captive animals’ still continue”, which is sad because people who don’t know about this goes to the zoo not knowing what goes on behind closed doors. “In 1992, Masha, an elephant in the Moscow Circus, died after being fed a diet of vegetables, meat, red wine, sugar, and a brew of vodka”, said Benbow in her article.…

    • 1869 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Moral values and meanings are portrayed through these two poems by expressing and clarifying the value of life and exploring humanity's relationship with animals.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Contrasting continues throughout the excerpt to display the conflicting character of nature. Nature is so complex that even very similar animals have very differing aspects. Oliver can “imagine the screech owl on her wrist” and she can learn from the snowy owl, but the great horned owl will cause her to “fall” if it “should touch her.” Even though this great horned owl is terrifying, Oliver still is in amazement of it. She says it would become the “center of her life.” While “the scream of the rabbit” in “pain and hopelessness” is terrible, it is not comparable with the “scream of the owl” which is of “sheer rollicking glory.” Nature has extremes, and the owl is the extreme of terror.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His style is detailed and the use of poetic devices such as alliteration creates vivid imagery. Alliteration such as ‘blaring bull’, ‘a stallion splashed’ and as he describes the mongrel as ‘slowly slinking’ portray a certain movement which the reader then picture in their minds. The movement of the bird is also described in detail the use of verbs ‘twitch and toss’, ‘clip and sip’ showing sharp, quick movements as…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The sanderlings simile represents a time of disguise. As humans, we hide, run, and shield ourselves from pain, sorrow, truth, and sometimes, ourselves. The birds symbolize our desperation to not be found in our times of struggle; we blend in with the crowd making ourselves, as Carson said, of no color. Carson does a phenomenal job of illustrating emotion through her connections, imagery, and symbolism. This use of rhetorical devices makes her message understandable to, people of all ages who go through the roller-coaster of life, her audience. The essay flows beautifully as the author successfully makes her point, or purpose, clear to her audience members. Using strategies such as symbolism, comparisons, and imagery to set a serene mood makes…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory is yet another technique used to depict the concept of power and powerlessness within the poem. The giraffe is an allegory for women in society. The poet illustrates the giraffe as constantly confined in captivity; this is similar to that of housewives’ confinement to their homes. As they do not have any freedom nor any independence, both the housewives and the giraffe are seen as powerless. As a result, readers gain a broader perspective into the social powerlessness of women as drawn through the giraffe.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    4 O'Clock Birds Singing

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To conclude, the author uses diction and metaphors to describe the bird’s song. Through the use of these literary devices, the author shows how the birds’ songs are powerful, and how quickly their songs’ end once the sun has fully…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem begins with a comparison between the colorful, alien saris made of “cloth from another planet” and her own “dull null Navy” that she wears every day. If you dig deeper, however, the implicit interpretation is how the speaker traps herself in a cage like the zoo animals. Claiming her able body is her bars, she cannot be noticed like the other zoo animals. She compares herself to the “white rat the foxes left” instead of the wondrous zoo animals people flock to see. She sees herself as forgotten and wants to break free of her monotonous life. Instead of being the someone without complaints nor comments, the subject wants people to wonder at her like she wonders at the saris as they walk…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This play will allow students the opportunity to actively engage in learning about animal environments. Students can be assigned various characters including: zookeeper, certain animals, or the chorus. The amount of action and movement can be increased or decreased depending on the room size. The dialogue is simple yet provides a powerful message about animal habitats. This play allows variety to help reiterate the importance of a particular environment for a particular animal species. Repetition will help to solidify the necessity of animals choosing a suitable environment by using…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elizabeth Bishop has used past memories, personal experiences, and her observations of nature and human life to include in her poems. Many of Bishop’s poems include the mention of animals, such as ‘The Fish’, ‘The Prodigal’, and ‘The Armadillo’. This mention of animals and their behavior is effectively presented and supported with thorough detail. The precise language which Bishop chose to include in her poems, acts as a guideline for uncovering the emotion felt during the time of the experience. Had Bishop not included minor details that she considered to be critical, the chance of passing on the intensity of feeling may have been lost. In Bishop’s poem ‘The Fish’, she writes about her experience of catching a “tremendous fish”. By stating in the opening line that the fish was indeed…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics